The Nice Octoling AFTER
by variabright
Summary: (NOTE: For context, it's recommended that you read The Nice Octoling first, even though it's very bad.) 2 years after the events of The Nice Octoling, the octoling, Isla, and her inkling girlfriend and boyfriend, Amelia and Ezra, are in a very happy relationship. However, some troubles may be pushed their way.
1. Do you like sunrises?

Isla looked at the sunrise, holding the hands of her two lovers, Amelia and Ezra. The night before, the two had visited Isla's home. Although it wasn't meant to happen at first, Amelia and Ezra ended up staying the night. It was now 6:22 AM, and the three of them were sitting at the edge at Isla's bed, looking out the window.

"SUNRISES ARE SO FREAKIN' RAD!" Ezra shouted, excitement pouring through his voice.

Isla giggled at this. "Ez, we see them every day..."

Ezra smirked. "'Course we do! I still love 'em to bits, though! How about you, AMY?" Ezra's eyes darted over to Amelia, devious grin on his face.

"Oh, my GOD, I TOLD you not to call me that!" Despite Amelia's words suggesting anger, she couldn't help but smile herself, stifling a laugh. "But yeah, sunrises are pretty cool. You like them too, right, Isla?"

Isla seemed to be staring at nothing, not giving a response.

Amelia stared at Isla expectantly. "Uhh... Isla?"

Isla was suddenly snapped out of her trance, and looked over at Amelia with a shy smile. "S-sorry, um, what did you say..?"

Amelia beamed at Isla, and answered happily, "I said, 'you like them too, right, Isla?'"

Isla raised one eyebrow, confused. "Like what?"

With a smirk, Amelia exclaimed, "Sunrises!"

"Oh!" Isla looked down at the floor in slight embarrassment. "Uh... yeah! Sorry I didn't get it the first time..."

"That's fine!" chirped Amelia.

Ezra admired Isla for a moment, before finally speaking. "What were you thinking about, anyway?" he inquired.

Isla glanced back up at Ezra, blushing ever so slightly. She adjusted her posture and began to speak. "I'm just... glad we're together like this, you know? I can't believe I didn't realize I had no obligation to make a choice before... I feel kinda bad about it, honestly."

Ezra laughed and dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry about it! It's not like you had any way of knowing that poly was a thing, considering how conservative of an area you were raised in."

Amelia nodded her head in agreement. "It's not a big deal, Isly."

Isla, visibly confused, let her gaze be pulled towards Amelia. "How can you say that, of all people? You were the one who got super mad at me over it in the first place..."

Amelia shrugged. "I mean, I'm kinda the one who pressured you into the whole 'making a decision' thing, so if anyone should feel bad about it, it's me."

"Right..." Isla looked down again.

While Amelia and Isla continued talking, Ezra checked his phone to look at the time. It was 6:27 AM. "Shit! Already?!"

Isla's tentacles shot up in alarm, before she then glanced at Ezra. "Already what?"

Ezra looked back at Isla and Amelia, visibly dejected. "Sorry, girls, but I've gotta go... there's this huge tournament that's going on, and everyone's gotta be there by 6:30 AM. Don't wanna be late."

Amelia winced. "Jeez, that early? Sounds hellish."

"Yeah..," Ezra responded. "Preparations and stuff..."

Isla frowned. "Your team name still scares me."

"Actually," Ezra began, "after everyone found out my girlfriend was an octo and all that, we changed it to Booyah Squad."

Isla smiled, her tentacles forming hearts. "That's pretty fresh."

Noticing Isla's tentacles, Ezra chuckled. "Yeah, heh. Anyways, gotta go!" With that, he superjumped. "Wish me luuuuuuck!"

Isla was using a pencil to lightly sketch a picture of Amelia. With the utmost care, Isla added a few more details, with a small smile on her face, and tentacles curled up, before putting the pencil down and turning to Amelia, who had been sitting next to her.

"You know, I'm glad I took up art!" Isla rejoiced. "Now whenever I have an idea, I don't have to wait for someone to make it!

"Yeah," Amelia agreed, "but it is still nice to see what others can make, y'know?"

Isla giggled, putting one hand over her own mouth as she did so. "Yeah! Especially what you make..." Her tentacles, which were already curled up, formed hearts as a light blush colored her face. She clasped her two hands together and rested them on her lap.

Letting out a chuckle, Amelia smiled at Isla. "You're adorable..." She twirled one of Isla's tentacles teasingly. "You're so into me, aren't you..?"

Isla's heart rate began to quicken as Amelia did this. She looked down at the floor in slight embarrassment and spoke. "U-um... I guess..."

"Oh, Isly..." Amelia smiled, pulling Isla into a hug. "I love you."

"I love you too," the octoling sang, shy beam stretching across her face. Unfortunately, the sweet moment was cut short, as Isla suddenly pulled away. "Oh, my gosh, we totally need to watch Ezra's tourney! It's gotta be starting soon!"

Amelia gasped. "You're right! Let's get to the Square, then!"

With that, Isla and Amelia both superjumped into the center of Inkopolis Square, hoping they hadn't missed the first few games of the tournament.

Thankfully, the two of them were right on time.

The news flash jingle played, coming from the big TV on top of Deca Tower. The jingle then turned into a song as the familiar figures of the two newest rising superstars in all of Inkopolis showed up on the screen.

On the left was Pearl Houzuki, a short inkling with a crown on her head, sitting on a beanbag chair. On the right was Pearl's girlfriend Marina Ida, a taller octoling wearing a pair of headphones, standing behind her DJ set.

Pearl spoke. "Y'all know what time it is!" She faced the audience, doing her signature pose before settling back into her normal sitting position.

After Pearl was finished speaking, Marina began, "It's Off The Hook, coming at you LIVE from Inkopolis Square!"

Isla waved her arms in excitement. "It's time..!"

Pearl looked at Marina with a smirk on her face. "Yo, Reena, did you hear?"

"Uh... hear what, exactly?" Marina looked back at Pearl, obviously puzzled.

Snickering, Pearl answered, "'Bout the tourney, of course! It's gonna start in, like, 5 minutes!"

"Right, the tourney..." Marina giggled a bit.

"Thankfully," Pearl began, "Ya girls Off The Hook got y'all covered! We'll be broadcasting a live feed of the tourney directly from Deca Tower!"

This was meant with immense approval; cheers rang throughout all of Inkopolis Square, from inklings and octolings alike.

Pearl suddenly spoke, in slight alarm. "And that's all the time we've got!"

Both Off The Hook members walked towards the center of the screen. Pearl continued, "Until next time..."

Both girls then spoke in unison, striking a pose.

"Don't get cooked... Stay off the hook!"


	2. So shocking, I can't bear to watch!

"GO!"

Music began blasting through Starfish Mainstage's speakers at full volume. The tournament kicked off with a round of Splat Zones. The first match was between Booyah Squad and Coralmari.

The winner of this round, along with the winner of the second round, which would also be Splat Zones, would move on to the winners' bracket, settled in a game of Tower Control.

The losers of both rounds would move on to the losers' bracket, which would also be Tower Control.

The final round would be the winners' bracket winner against the losers' bracket winner, which would be a game of Rainmaker.

Whoever won would be crowned the 50796 Calamari Champion.

As team Booyah Squad and team Coralmari began viciously spraying ink onto the zone, Booyah Squad seemed to have an early lead. Booyah Squad's leader, Ezra, was the most vicious of them all, already managing to get a quad kill on Coralmari within the first 30 seconds of battle.

With the zone in Booyah Squad's control, things began to look bleak for Coralmari.

All four members of team Coralmari, after respawning, charged full force for the center of the stage to recapture the zone, but it was no use; Booyah Squad clearly had plans to win this battle, and Ezra would stop at nothing to make sure everything played out accordingly.

That is, until a familiar voice rang through the stadium.

"BATTLE HALT!"

The timer stopped. Every cephalopod that was battling froze in their spots, and looked to the source of the strange voice.

Toxic Mist was suddenly thrown into the very middle of the stage, yet it wasn't the color of either one of the teams battling. It was yellow.

After the Toxic Mist wore off and all eight cephalopods regained their ability to see properly, a figure which appeared to be an inkling revealed itself.

Ezra looked to see that it was none other than Annette, known more popularly as her alias Sunny Daze, known to Ezra as his ex-girlfriend. She was wearing a B-Ball Jersey (Away), Gold Hi-Tops, Fake Contacts, had her tentacles in pigtails, and was wielding a Splat Charger. At her sides were three other yellow inklings, all male.

Annette spoke, with an overly excited and cutesy tone. "Hello everybody! Pleased to make your acquaintance!" She then glared at Ezra. "Well, except one," she hissed.

"Who are you people?!" one member of Coralmari snarled, holding up his weapon in preparation for combat.

Annette let out a sly giggle. "Glad you asked!" She held out her arms above her, as if to present herself as an authority figure towards the previously-battling cephalopods. With an intoxicating enthusiasm to her voice, she proudly cheered:

"We are the Reformed Octo Killers!"

Ezra's heart skipped a beat. "T-the what..?" he quaked.

Annette smirked. "Teehee! That's right!" she began. "When you expelled us from your team for hating octolings after you got that new girlfriend of yours, we were pretty mad! Not exactly mad enough to start a rebellion yet, though. But changing the team name?" She giggled and shook her head disapprovingly. "That's just crossing the line!" She then continued, a beam that seemed to light up the room stretching across her face. "So I and your former team members recreated the Octo Killers with a new objective: wipe out the entire octarian species and cause them to go truly extinct!"

Ezra clenched a fist, his face beginning to get red. "I'll NEVER allow you to do that!"

"D'aww, what's wrong?" Annette questioned, batting her eyelashes at Ezra as she began to walk closer to him. "The Ezra I know would be so excited!"

Ezra bit his bottom lip until it bled, overwhelmed with rage. "The Ezra you know is NOT the one standing before you today!" he bellowed. "I may have had an inexplicable hatred of octolings two years ago, but after meeting and befriending Isla I had an epiphany, that being that inklings and octolings are no different from one another other than species! It's unfair to stereotype and assume things about a group of people just because of how they were born!"

Annette's eyes widened, her mouth gaping wide open. She then spoke. "Ohhh, I understand..." She paused for a moment, before smirking deviously. "Understand that you're spouting complete BULLSHIT!" With that, she aimed her Splat Charger directly at Ezra's head.

"Listen here, Ezzy," she began, "I'm not gonna let you and your philosophical nonsense get in the way of my plans. Everyone in this room knows that the world is better off with inklings ruling it! If you refuse to surrender, I won't hesitate to fire."

Ezra rolled his eyes. "If you splat me, I'll just respawn, dumbass."

"Actually," Annette began, a malicious grin stretching across her face, "I had my team members disable the spawn points! If you die here, you die forever! So unless you want to never be seen again," she ordered, "either fight me and risk your precious life or submit and aid me in my plans to bring the octarian species to their ultimate demise!"

Ezra scoffed. "Well, if there's one thing that hasn't changed about me..." he began, as he kneeled down and grabbed his Dark Tetra Dualies, "It's that I never back down from a fight."

With a chuckle, Annette aimed her Splat Charger away from Ezra's head and instead put her hands at her hips, already prepared for battle. "Very well."

Sweat dropped from Isla's face as she paced quickly. "I just don't get it! The broadcast just... ended all of a sudden! Who was the one who said 'battle halt'? Where did that Toxic Mist come from? Why was the Calamari Championship canceled? IS EZRA OKAY?!"

Amelia put her hand on Isla's shoulder. "Isly, it's gonna be fine... knowing Ezra, if anyone bad went there to oppose him, there's no way he'd lose. He's one tough cookie in a fight."

Looking back up at Amelia, Isla let out a sigh. "You're right. I just can't help but worry. That voice sounded awfully familiar. Almost like..." Isla's voice trailed off for a moment before she shook her head. "Nah, there's no way. But-" Before she could finish, the sound of receiving a text came from her phone as it began to vibrate. She pulled it out of her pocket and read the text. "Oh... oh, God..."

Amelia raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

Isla's hands trembled as she began to speak. "It's from Ezra. It looks really rushed; there's a bunch of typos."

Amelia snatched the phone from Isla's hands. "Lemme read that..."

The message read, directly:

"Gonan come abck a lottle late moght not come abck ever and fi so ill miss you gaiys a lot tand i love yoy all see ya soon hopelfully"

Amelia's eyes widened. "'Might not come back ever'?! What's that supposed to mean? I-is Ez gonna die?!"

Tears filled Isla's eyes until they overflowed, causing them to stream gently down her cheeks and onto the ground. "I don't know..." Her voice trembled with uncertainty.

Amelia giggled nervously, her breathing beginning to quicken and her hearts beating faster. "Well, I'm sure he'll be okay! I mean, he is Ezra, after all!" Despite her words, even Amelia was uncertain of what would happen to Ezra, and just as scared as Isla was.

Isla quicky turned her head towards Amelia, nearly gasping for air. "Are you kidding me?! Ezra knows danger when he sees it! If he says he might die, he might freaking die!"

Isla's sudden harsh tone sent a shiver down Amelia's spine. "S-sorry..." She looked down at the floor, clearly ashamed.

Isla looked up to the sky and screamed Ezra's name, holding onto the small sliver of hope she had that Ezra would somehow hear her, despite him still being in Starfish Mainstage as far as she knew.

"Isly..." Amelia looked back over to Isla, tears beginning to form in her own eyes.

Isla clasped onto Amelia's hand and squeezed it as hard as she could, before screaming with all her might.

"EZRA!"


	3. Your own past will get you yet!

"Just give up already, Annette!" These words escaped Ezra's mouth as he dodge rolled out of the way of Annette's charger blast.

Annette scoffed at this as she continued to fire at Ezra relentlessly. "I'm the one who needs to give up? You clearly haven't looked in a mirror lately!"

Ezra continued to dodge roll out of the way of Annette's fire, not taking the risk of firing at her. "You're right, I haven't! And I don't plan to, either, since unlike you, I'm not all looks!"

Giggling, Annette gave a sly reply to the purple inkling. "Just you wait, Ezzy! Soon enough all that dodge rolling will become too much for your hearts to handle and cause them to explode!"

"That's literally impossible."

Annette snickered, a smile plastered across her face. "Maybe it is! But if I manage to convince you it isn't, it won't be anymore! After all, Ezzy can do anything if he just PUTS HIS MIND TO IT!"

With that, Annette fired directly above Ezra's head, causing him to be bathed in a pool of yellow ink. He couldn't move in the slightest, and could barely even see. What he could see, though, was Annette walking up to him and then harshly holding her Splat Charger against his head.

Annette let out a short laugh. "I wasn't expecting you to break down that easy! How pathetic! A weakling like you isn't worthy of fighting me." She smirked malevolently. "Any last words?"

Ezra, seeming to accept his fate, smiled blissfully. "Tell Isla and Amelia I love them."

A gleeful blush colored Annette's face as her smile grew bigger. "Thanks! I won't!"

With not even a shred of remorse, Annette fired at Ezra.

Ezra, as expected, had completely disappeared, without a trace.

"Yaaaaay!" Annette rejoiced. "Now that he's finally gone, I can-"

That was when Annette felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her back.

"W-what... the hell... is this..?"

She fell to the floor immediately. Standing directly above her was Ezra.

Annette, in utter shock and disbelief, screamed, "BUT YOU'RE DEAD!"

Scoffing and rolling his eyes, Ezra responded. "Or so you thought."

"H-HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?! MY CHARGER SHOULD HAVE K-KILLED YOU! AND WHAT IS THIS THING?!" Annette looked down at the large object that was piercing out of her chest.

Ezra smirked. "That's my custom-made Splat Knife. The blade's made entirely from ink. Once you shove that thing through an opponent, it's game over for them."

Annette's eyes widened. "T-that's... barbaric..!" She paused for a moment to take a deep breath, and then continued. "But it still doesn't e-explain how you're alive!"

"Oh, right," Ezra began. "That. Although, shouldn't you already know..?"

"What are you talking about?!" snarled Annette.

"Don't you remember?" Ezra asked. "Back when we were best friends?"

 _The year was 50786._

 _Ezra and Annette were both at 6 years of age._

 _Annette beamed gleefully. "My mom made a really cool thing that makes it so you're completely immune to ink attacks if it's in your body!" She giggled and continued. "She wanted to know if she could perform the surgery to put it inside on you! You'd be, like, a test subject! Isn't that cool?!"_

 _Ezra's eyes lit up. "Heck yeah, I wanna be immune!"_

 _"Great!" Annette chirped. "The surgery's tomorrow!"_

 _"Sounds aweso- wait, tomorrow..?"_

Ezra chuckled. "Sure, it doesn't work during battles, but, well... our little feud wasn't technically a battle, now, was it?"

Annette's body began to shake. "Y-you're telling me that piece of junk actually still works..? Then... THEN WHY DIDN'T IT WORK FOR ME?!"

Ezra sighed and shook his head. "For someone who claims to be capable of terminating the entire octarian species, you aren't very bright."

"What's THAT supposed to mean?!" Annette hissed.

Ezra facepalmed, putting one hand on his hip. "The Splat Blade, Amelia. It pierced directly through where the device was located and rendered it useless. It wasn't made to withstand that much ink at one time."

Annette froze. "But... the device... it was in my biggest heart..."

"Exactly."

Ezra pulled the Splat Knife out of Annette's body, and purple ink began spewing out of the wound.

Annette screamed in pure horror. "WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE FUUUUUCK?!"

Annette exploded, leaving only a pool of purple ink.

Ezra smirked.

"What a child."

 ** _NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Sorry for the short chapter. I just published chapter 2 but I wanted to get this one out tonight as well. Hopefully the content quality makes up for the word count. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed._**


	4. You can't rest when she's your rival!

"Hey, girls, I'm back..."

Ezra walked into the door to Amelia's house, at which Isla had been staying while she panicked about him. Thankfully, he let Isla know he was safe via a text message, and he could finally see his girlfriends once more.

Upon hearing his voice, Isla immediately ran up to Ezra while giggling in pure joy and gave him a tight hug. "Ez! You're not dead! I-I could cry happy tears..!"

She wiped her tears on Ezra's shirt, to which Ezra paid no mind. He only hugged Isla back, his somewhat angry expression softening as a sincere smile stretched across his face. "Of course I'm not dead! You think your friend Ezra would ever let himself lose? Hell no!"

Isla looked back up at the taller inkling. "Y-you... actually got into a fight?" Her voice wavered as her hands began to shake, her voice becoming slightly quieter. "With who?"

Ezra shrugged. "Just some lame-ass from back in the day. Nothing too serious. She threatened to splat me and I shot it right back at her." He smirked, continuing. "Let's just say she won't be giving us any trouble anytime soon."

Isla beamed at this, a small giggle escaping her lips. "You're so brave, Ez..."

Chuckling, Ezra brought Isla's face closer to his own. "You're the one who normalized octolings in Inkopolis."

Isla could feel Ezra's breath lightly brushing up against her face. For a few moments, the octoling and her lover simply stared at each other, blushing profusely.

Ezra couldn't help but notice how soft Isla's facial features were. From up close, Isla almost looked like an angel; somehow, he hadn't noticed this before. Her cheeks were rosy and warm, her lips full and lush.

Then Ezra came to the realization that if he didn't do anything, they'd be stuck like this forever. So he promptly closed the gap.

Isla, although moderately startled, brought Ezra closer and accepted the kiss, letting out a low, quiet moan.

After what seemed like an eternity, Isla and Ezra slowly pulled away from each other.

Isla could still taste Ezra's lips on her own. She almost felt a burning sensation in her hearts as they pounded in sync with Ezra's.

Ezra looked around in slight confusion. "Uh, where's Amelia? I feel like she'd be here by now."

Isla's tentacles shot up. "Amelia?" Her tentacles then rested on her shoulders once again as she relaxed. "She told me she was gonna go get some new gear, is all."

Ezra nodded. "Makes sense."

As the minutes became hours, Isla and Ezra waited for Amelia to come back, but to no avail...

 _Where am I?_

 _What's going on?_

 _That squid... just splatted me..._

 _Forever..._

 _I'm never coming back._

 _I'm dead._

 _I'm... I'm..._

Annette found herself laying down in her humanoid form on a spawn point. "Huh?! How?! Didn't Ezra kill me?!"

"My lady, our greatest apologies." One of Annette's team members walked up to her and bowed down to her as if she were a deity. "Our protection was not adequate enough to successfully protect you from death. However, we built a spawn point specifically for you at our main facility, so that you may never die even outside of battle. Please accept it."

Annette scoffed as she stood up. "That squid really thought he could kill me? Think again, fucker." She began to walk around the facility. "Wow... y'all refurbished this place, didn't you? Nice job."

All of the team members spoke in unison. "Our thanks, my lady."

Annette continued to walk around the facility until she arrived at a computer with a large monitor. "There you are!" She sat down at a chair in front of the monitor and turned on the computer.

After the computer had successfully powered on, large words appeared on the screen that read, "Hello, CutiePie85."

Annette rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm sick of this. Does anyone know how to change my username on this thing?!"

Strangely, a new voice which Annette didn't recognize responded. "I will see to it, my lady."

Annette turned around to see a green inkling girl, already shoved into the Reformed Octo Killers Official Outfit. Annette furrowed her eyebrows. "And who the heck are you?!"

The green inkling girl clasped her hands together and rested them on her lap, bowing at Annette as she spoke. "I am Amelia. Pleased to be of service."

Annette's eyes narrowed. "Ezra's other girlfriend?"

Another team member walked up next to Amelia and bowed just as she was. "We kidnapped and brainwashed her, my lady. She seemed to be the strongest out of Ezra's two significant others, and, as such, we acted accordingly."

Annette, after a few seconds, smirked, while letting out a giggle. "You guys are great." She turned back to Amelia. "Yes, please, do help me change my username, Amelia."

Annette got up and let Amelia sit in the chair to change her username.

She walked up to one of her team members. "I can't wait, Alexander. Once we've gotten even more team members to join the Reformed Octo Killers, we'll finally be able to begin our plan to wipe out the octarian species and leave squid to reign supreme!" She began to laugh maniacally. "That poor Ezra! He has no idea what he and his girlfriend are in for, especially since he's lost his other one! What a heartbreaker. I wouldn't be surprised if he finally submits once he finds out what we did to Amelia."

Annette looked up towards the metallic ceiling of the barren facility. "The moment I saw the way he looked at Isla in Inkopolis Medical, I knew he wouldn't be able to live up to the team name." She then clenched a fist. "That fucking octobitch! I'll kill her! She stole my Ezra right in front of my eyes, and I was too blind to see it!"

Annette was suddenly filled with undying rage, still heartbroken from she and Ezra's breakup. "I'll kill her..."

One of Annette's team members put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. "My lady, please relax..."

Despite the team's best efforts, Annette just got even more riled up. Filled with pure rage, she screamed out.

"I'LL KILL HER!"


	5. I'm losing my cool!

Isla paced in circles, stress piling up more and more by the minute. "Amelia never shops for this long! I-it's been, like, a day, Ezra! What are we gonna do?!"

Ezra put his hand on Isla's shoulder reassuringly. "I'm sure Amelia is okay, Isla," he said, not even a hint of hesitance in his voice as he spoke. "And if she isn't, who's to say I can't find her and help her?" He stopped for a moment, and then continued with a hearty giggle. "Hell, who's to say YOU can't?" He locked Isla's gaze and smiled at her. "You're the strongest and most determined girl I know. If anyone can help Amelia out of whatever she's gotten herself into, it's you, Isla."

After a few seconds, a look of confidence made its way onto Isla's face as she smiled and made her hands into fists. She let out a grunt as she did this, looking right back at Ezra as she gave a curt nod. "You're right. I don't know a lot of things," she began, "but what I do know is that I love you and Amelia with all of my hearts and would stop at nothing to protect you guys!" She spoke with an intoxicating enthusiasm to her voice. "If Amelia's out there somewhere, you bet I'm gonna find her!"

Ezra grinned. "That's my Isla!"

As Isla began to run out the door to find Amelia, Ezra remembered what Isla had done to him two years ago. He shivered at the thought, as it reminded him that no matter where they came from, all octolings were strong enough for war combat; it was in their DNA. Genetic engineering done by the octarian king DJ Octavio had made sure of this, even before the few octolings that were able to escape traveled to Isla's hometown. Even Ezra, who had obsessed over octarians and octarian history for years even before he met Isla, didn't know of this until Isla herself told him. Isla had noted that escaping from Octo Valley and going AWOL was probably the best thing she had ever done, as it allowed her freedom that she didn't have while she was under the complete control and oppression of the octarian society.

What Isla had done to Ezra was so shocking to him at the time that he hadn't even considered that she may have been taken control of again. Sanitization had proved even more affective than the traditional hypnoshades that DJ Octavio used, and not even the Calamari Inkantation was able to snap Isla out of it. It was a miracle that Ezra had even found a way to get through to her. He had no idea how he even did it, either. It was all so sudden and such a blur that he barely remembered what had happened at all.

To think that Isla was a test subject for that long, and nobody even knew... it just seemed too unreal to Ezra. He still wondered why Isla hadn't told him or Amelia, even after all those years.

It may have been in the past, but Ezra couldn't help but be weary. He knew that Isla was very strong - in fact, by octoling standards, she'd be considered an elite - but that was just it. What if Isla was TOO strong? What would happen if she accidentally splatted somebody? Ezra already lived in fear of what may happen to him ever since he splatted Annette. He would never wish that same kind of paranoia on another cephalopod, especially one he cared about as much as Isla.

Ezra was about to call out to Isla and tell her to wait, but it was too late. She was already gone.

He could only hope she wouldn't get into trouble.

Annette rolled her eyes. "Are you for real? You used STRING CHEESE as a weapon?!"

"My lady!" Amelia pointed a finger towards Annette in defiance. "String cheese IS a weapon! I insist!"

"Ugh..." Annette groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose and furrowing her eyebrows, shaking her head as she did this. "You're the same exact level of idiotic as you were before you were brainwashed..."

Amelia crossed her arms and turned her head away from Annette, eyes closed. "Hmph!" She opened one eye to look at Annette and continued. "Well, maybe I wouldn't be if you had actually given me string cheese..." She then turned back towards Annette, both eyes half-open. "...like I ASKED."

"I already told you!" Annette squealed. "I don't HAVE any string cheese." She then looked down, correcting herself. "I mean, I do," she began, before looking back up at Amelia, "but it's not for peasants like you!" She then raised both of her arms up into the air, as if to make herself seem like a higher power. "Only I, the true queen of Inkopolis, get to eat string cheese."

Before Annette and Amelia's heated, string-cheese related debate could continue, however, they heard a light knock on the door. Following shortly after, a soft voice rang from the other end. "Hello?"

"HOW DID SOMEBODY FIND MY SECRET FACILITY?!" Annette hollered, obviously alarmed.

Amelia sighed. "My lady, it's right next to Inkopolis Plaza's former shoe shop." Shrugging, she continued. "This place may be a ghost town, but it's not like this facility is exactly... 'secret.'"

"UUUUUUUGH." Annette seemed to grow more and more irritated by the second. "Just... get the door for me, will ya?"

Amelia gave a curt nod. "Whatever you ask for, my lady." With that, she went to go open the door for Annette. As she opened the door, an almost familiar figure revealed itself. It was a blue octoling girl.

"Amelia?!" The octoling yelled, scooping Amelia into a hug. "Oh, thank cod you're okay! We were worried sick!"

"Uh..." Amelia began, raising one eyebrow in confusion. "And who are you supposed to be, exactly?"

The octoling's happy expression was suddenly replaced with pure dread. "W-what are you talking about?!" She put Amelia down and pointed at herself. "It's me! Your best friend! Don't you remember?!"

Amelia responded, almost crestfallen by the sheer amount of fear and heartbreak radiating from the small, cute octoling. "No..." She began to wonder how something this cute could possibly be evil.

Both the octoling and Amelia suddenly heard furious footsteps from inside the facility coming closer and closer towards the door. Without warning, an unknown figure pushed Amelia onto the floor and pinned the octoling against a wall.

As Amelia regained her ability to focus, she noticed that the unknown figure was none other than Annette. She feared for the small octoling, as she knew how fierce Annette always was toward the octarian species.

"ISLA!" Annette yelled, extremely angry. "What are YOU doing here?!"

"U-um..." The octoling, whose name was supposedly Isla, began to speak. "Who are you? A-and how do you know my name?"

"Hmph." Annette let out a grunt. "Well, my name is Annette, but..." She let go of her grip on Isla and continued. "...you probably know me as Agent 4."


End file.
